Halloween's country side: Tommy Cash & The Statler Brothers share Oct. 31 tales

October 30, 10:05 PMCountry Music ExaminerLisa L. Rollins

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 The Statler Brothers know what it's like to combine show business
 with holidays away from home, including Halloween.

When it comes to Halloween, most think about donning costumes, ghosts 'n' ghouls, trick-or-treating, haunted houses and jack o' laterns aglow.

And while country stars assuredly think of the same things, when life on the touring trail is coupled with Oct. 31 festivities, a mix of experiences and memories merge.

Take 2008 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees The Statler Brothers, for example. The best-selling country group of all time spent many a week on the road and away from their own families, including one particular Halloween, as noted by band members and brothers Harold and Don Reid in their 2008 book titled Random Memories.

When asked to share a memorable Halloween memory with Examiner.com, Harold and Don recalled an event documented in The Statlers' biographical book, and per their request, here is that Oct. 31 memory.

Country music-meets-Halloween on the road

"Sometimes our chosen profession seems a little sad when you peek backstage. Example: We were in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, on Halloween night 1979. The gremlins taught us a lesson that evening. We weren't exactly 'sold out.' There're a couple of things you don't fool with when planning a tour, like kids' holidays and high school football. Don't book the show 'cause you ain't gonna win.

"Anyway, on this kids' holiday we had our buses parked inside the arena. Barbara Mandrell was the first half of our show and her bus was parked alongside ours. Before the music started there was a knock at our bus door. It was Barbara's daughter, Jamie, who had knocked on the only friendly door in sight. She was in her costume with her trick-or-treat bag. It was the only stop for a 4-year-old who was 2,000 miles away from home. Sometimes it's lonesome out there."

 Tommy Cash, in his teens, was no stranger to mischief
 on Oct. 31. (Photo: Rollins Media)

Traditional country artist Tommy Cash, too, has Halloween memories, and among his favorites to recall are those he spent as one of seven children in the Cash home, growing up in Arkansas.

Those who know the Cash named Tommy, know him as a gracious and humble hit-maker, with a string of chart-topping songs to his credit, including "Six White Horses," a former No. 1, never mind that he's Johnny's little brother.

Celebrating Oct. 31, country style

In short, Tommy--who was recently made an honorary colonel-- is a reserved man by most accounts; thus, to learn of his mischief on Halloweens past made this scribe's eyes widen in surprise.

Now touring in support of his Fade To Black CD, per Tommy,  his favorite Oct. 31 memories involve his teen years with friends, whom he would join in wreaking Halloween havoc in ways that only those who grow up in the country know.

What could he have possibly done, you may wonder? Well, says Tommy, he fondly recalls "pulling logs out of ditches and laying them across the road just to impede traffic." And oh yes, in the name of All Hallow's Eve, he and his buddies also "turned over an outhouse and let the neighbors mules loose"--things only true country boys can do.